


Among The Dreamy Spires

by mihrsuri



Category: Historical Farm (UK TV), The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Historical, Background Poly, Gardens & Gardening, Multimedia, OT3, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:18:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/pseuds/mihrsuri
Summary: Historical Gardens: A new series following  Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn & Alex Langlands as they attempt to rebuild and restore a Tudor Garden over a year with the help of the gardeners of Hampton Court Palace. (BBC  in 2019)





	Among The Dreamy Spires

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cefyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cefyr/gifts).



> Thank you so so much to my recipient for the opportunity to write this fic - happy yuletide and I hope this brings happiness. A note - this is set in an alternative universe of mine using the depictions/appearances of historical figures as depicted in The Tudors showtime show but it's not necessary to know anything about it except that Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn & Henry VIII are an OT3 triad and their oldest son married an Ottoman Princess. Title from a song by Liel

_Historical Gardens: A new series following Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn & Alex Langlands as they attempt to rebuild and restore a Tudor Garden over a year with the help of the gardeners of Hampton Court Palace. (BBC in 2019) - **Radio Times 'Upcoming Documentaries'** _

"Of course, the Tudors were largely inspired by the Italian traditions of garden design - though in later years the influence of Queen Margery I saw the introduction of Ottoman style gardens, particularly those inspired by the traditions of Persian Gardens as well as the latter Byzantine traditions…" 

Ruth turns to the camera and holds up a pomegranate "this? This is one of the things we will try to grow, due to the fact that these fruits became incredibly popular after Queen Margery introduced them to England a process that included precise instructions for how to manage them in a colder climate. Originally they were grown in pots in orangeries but by this period we find them outside…" 

As it turns out, frost and even snow doesn't kill pomegranate trees but Peter using the wrong mulch nearly does (they fix it, but Peter is teased about it throughout the rest of the year). They also discover that much of the information they need can be found only in Islamic writings about gardening that Queen Margery had commissioned translations into English for. 

"Cromwells Garden was directly inspired by some of the gardens that the Duke of Essex would have seen on his travels and what we want to do here is replicate it on a smaller scale - with some of the personal touches of a garden that was personally directed by King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn. It is called Cromwell’s garden after the man for whom it was built as a declaration of love and every part of it shines with that love, including the fact that it is beautifully joined to the king and queens private garden to reflect a loving triad." 

"We also want to really understand what would have gone into the construction of this kind of grand garden, though not obviously with the King of England breathing down our necks which does take the pressure off somewhat." 

Ruth just gives Peter a look of fond exasperation and says something about how it might be less pressure in that regard but it's more pressure in that the process is less intuitive than it would have been to the gardeners of the time. 

"Especially as we aren't professional gardeners" is what Alex says, which makes everyone laugh even though it's not really that funny (they blame the problems with the pomegranate trees). 

_Cromwells garden also had a more central, entirely private garden known as the Arthurian Garden that was exclusively the domain of the King, the Queen, their Chancellor and their children - the centrepiece of which is a beautiful artificial lake and waterfall that echoes the grandeur of the Medici gardens in Florence but which has its own unique English twists - from the oak and honeysuckle to the fact that the statues at the centre of the lake is not taken from Ancient Rome or Greece but from Arthurian mythos - depicting as it does Arthur, Guinevere & Lancelot in a suspiciously loving embrace. More than that it resembles King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell respectively which underscores why, for a long time this garden was exclusively private for the use of the royal family alone… **(Singh, LP 'The Triad Gardens Of Hampton Court')**_

As it turns they have the most difficulties not with the pomegranates but with the orange and lemon trees (olive trees are surprisingly hardy, if you plant them in the correct place and make sure they have plenty of sunlight in the milder climate, both in Hampton Court and the garden they are restoring and working in) - there is one vague mention of King Henry VIII having grown orange trees and at first they aren't sure if they should echo the ones currently in pots or perhaps try to grow them in the gardens, as it appears at least one was in Tudor times (the tree in question was blown over in a storm in the 1700s) and in the end decide that they have to be grown in pots - Hampton Court may have had warm enough corners all year round to support an orange tree but their garden does not. Olives, yes, but not oranges. 

So they plant pots of orange and lemon trees and place them in careful lines. "This is part of the process of symmetry and precision that so delighted the Renaissance Gardener" Ruth says, pushing the final pot into place "they sought to order the natural world, to delight the visitor with their mastery of it as well as make a place of beauty and tranquility - the idea of gardens as a place to retreat to, to entertain in, to contemplate nature as well as for the practical purposes of supplying food and medicines was coming into fashion in a huge degree among the elite and even, yes among ordinary people." 

Cromwells garden, of course is purely a pleasure garden - it is meant as such and made for delight, for entertaining those closest to the royal family and thus it has a certain air of informality because it is meant as a private garden - little grottos with benches that are covered with vines or framed with trees and flowers. Tom and Alex build a bench for their garden with the help of a delighted stone mason and they manage to not drop the stone on their feet and to make something that perhaps, King Henry would not have looked askance at. 

It is Ruth who designs the summer house - "the house in Hampton Court incorporates Ottoman and Persian designs - it is where Queen Margery originally ordered a Hamam built for the palace after her marriage to King Thomas I, then the Prince of Wales - we've decided to make this one a bit more of a hybrid - to reflect what the owners of this garden originally had constructed themselves" and Ruth who plans the kitchen and herb gardens. Tom and Alex trim the hedges at her direction and pick the oranges ("as far as we know, the Queen introduced several new recipes and flavours from her homeland and they were readily adopted by the court - at least most of them") and all three of them fall a little more in love with the garden they are building and the people they are echoing in its creation. 

It is on the final day of filming that they talk about the childrens garden. "This, this is one of the loveliest things" Ruth says, gesturing to a beautifully maintained corner of the garden. "It was built specifically for the children of King Henry, Queen Anne and Thomas Cromwell to play in and as well as that their parents had a tree planted for each of them and around it flowers that represented each of their children. A tradition that the royal family follows to this day - indeed the great grandchildren of our current Queen still play in the childrens garden at Hampton Court though it now contains several pieces of modern play equipment and a treehouse - it is still filled with family love" Alex and Tom just smile at her and Ruth basks in it. It is a beautiful thing and a beautiful garden.

**Author's Note:**

> I based the gardens on several different places - the Villa di Castello, Villa d'Este & Villa Ruspoli as well as descriptions of the Topkapi Palace gardens (specifically the Sarai Garden) and the Ayasofya Hamam built at the request of Hurrem Sultan. I also used the Royal Horticultural Society website for information on growing lemons, oranges and olives in England and English Heritage for information on English Renaissance Gardens and King Henry VIII's state papers and privy purse expenses in which I found some of the information about orange trees at Hampton Court.


End file.
